Penguin Random House is the result of a holy union between two publishing giants-Bertelsmann’s Random House and Pearson’s Penguin—Penguin Random House was formed on 1 July, 2013, owning 53 per cent and 47 per cent of Penguin Random House respectively. Penguin Books was the brain child of British publisher, Allen Lane, in 1935. Urban legend speaks of his fruitless quest to find a good book to read at the Exeter Railway Station, which, among other factors, led to the inspiration for Penguin Books and his producing a range of affordable and high quality paperback books. At the time, paperbacks weren’t the chosen format for anyone wishing to publish serious, well-written literature. The books soon found a profitable market in the UK, surprising initial sceptics of Lane’s idea, and setting the tone for intellectual reading as a layman’s game in the 20th century. Penguin India was started in 1985. Publishing started in 1987 with only six books. In 2017, as we celebrate 30 years of being in the region, you now get around 250 new titles from Penguin every year, along with an active backlist of over 3000 titles to top that. We’re known for modern fiction as well as narrative non-fiction, including biography, travel, business, politics, history, religion and philosophy, lifestyle, cookery, health and fitness, sports and leisure, illustrated and children’s books. Penguin India boasts a list of authors that are some of India’s favourite writers. Featuring three Booker Prize winning novels (The God of Small Things, The Inheritance of Loss and Life of Pi), and others by authors who have won virtually every major literary prize including the Nobel Prize, the Magsaysay Award, the Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, Penguin authors have also been recipients of the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest civilian honors.